Gambling Heart
by young justice13
Summary: After Wally dies Dick develops a drinking and gambling problem but always denies it. the day before the 5th month anniversary of Wally's death Artemis gets put into hospital. The doctors say that she will be fine but what happens when things go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Dick walked into his apartment and collapsed on the couch. He knew he shouldn't of had that much to drink but ever since he started going to that casino he had changed. tomorrow it would be five months since Wally died, things hadn't been goo for Dick after his best friend died. two months after his death Dick started going to a casino every night and either gambled away thousands of dollars or won thousands. He went to all the big places that wealthier people go to gamble thousands of dollars, not just a couple hundred like other casinos around here. Dick won about seven thousand tonight and had a few celebratory drinks, well allot more than a few Dick couldn't walk very well. He slowly stumbled to his room and fell onto the bed and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Artemis walked got out of bed and walked into her lounge room. It was only five months after Wally had died and she hadn't been able to sleep since that night. Artemis stayed at his parents house a couple of weeks after Wally died then she left the team and now worked at a café in Gotham while finishing college. She didn't talk to anyone on the team anymore, she wanted to completely get away from that life and her friends understood that. She sometimes got calls from Zatanna and Megan sometimes even Bart, but the one person she expected to call her hadn't been in contact with anyone the day after Wally died. Artemis had wanted to call Dick for a while but thought differently about it and decided against it. But out of them all she missed Dick the most, he was her best friend all through high school and until she and Wally left the team.<p>

She sighed and sat down on the couch, she picked up her phone and put in Dicks cell phone number. Artemis sat there for a moment her thumb over the call button but like always her thumb moved over to the end button and she put the phone down. Artemis got up and walked back to her bedroom and went back to bed. But was soon awakened by a loud sound coming form her lounge room.

* * *

><p>"Dick, what are you doing here? I didn't think you'd be coming today." Tim said when Dick walked into the cave. Dick looked at him weird and asked, "why did you think I wouldn't be here today?" Tim stepped closer and whispered, "because today is five months since Wally died, I thought you'd be some where else." Tim,the current Robin said to his older brother. "well last time I was here so why should it be any different a month later?" Dick asked getting annoyed. "you said you were going to go to his grave." Tim finally said, but of course Dick doesn't remember saying that. Before he had a chance to say anything else his phone rang. "hello?" Dick said. "Dick can you come to Gotham?" Bruce asked on the other line. Bruce and Dick hadn't talked since the night Wally died, they had a huge fight and Dick refused to talk to him. "I told you Bruce I don't work with you anymore." Dick was about to hang up but Bruce said "Artemis is hurt." and Dick stopped. He sighed before saying "i'm on my way." and hanging up. "who was that?" Tim asked. "it was Bruce, Artemis is hurt and i'm going to Gotham." Dick said and walked over to the zeta tube's, he hadn't seen Artemis in five months but god did he miss her. She was his best friend as well as Wally, ever since the day he met her he had a crush on her, but that small crush slowly turned into something bigger and he felt really guilty for still having these feelings for his best friends girl. "reconsidered Nightwing B01." the computer announced as Nightwing left the cave.<p>

"where is she?" Dick asked when he got to the hospital. Bruce turned around, he was standing next to Ollie and Dinah. "Dick it's good to see you." Bruce said going to shake his hand. "Where is she?" Dick asked again ignoring Bruce's hand. "She's in that room." Ollie said pointing to a door right across from them. Dick nodded and walked over to the room pushing open the door. She was just lying there. Artemis looked like she had lost allot of blood. He sat in a chair by her bed and held her hand. He looked at her with sad eyes, he really had missed her and now he doesn't know if he'll ever get to talk to her again. He didn't have any information yet, he just wanted to see her first before he got any information. It killed him to see her hurt, just like it killed him when she moved away with Wally. His best friend never knew that Dick loved Artemis, because he knew that Artemis didn't love him so he never told her or anyone else. "Dick, it's good to see you again." He looked toward the door and saw Ollie. "you too, haven't seen you or Black Canary around for a couple months." Dick said and shook his out stretched hand. "What happened to Artemis?" Dick asked the older man. "We don;t know what happened, but she has been beaten up really bad and the doctor said if we hadn't found her when we did she would've died of blood loss." Ollie said. "she should be waking up soon, we got here three hours ago and the doctor said it would only take around two hours and she should wake up if everything is alright, if she doesn't wake up soon that would cause some concern." Dick looked at Artemis, she looked so weak, she never looked weak. He hoped that everything would be OK and that she would wake up soon he hated seeing her hurt, he was always worried about her when she was on the team especially with her dad always breaking into her apartment, but then she moved away and he had to stop trying to protect her all the time, that wasn't his job anymore. But now that Wally isn't around anymore to protect her he felt like it was his turn to step up again.

He knew better then anyone that Artemis could take care of herself but seeing her now makes him feel responsible and he wants to help all he could do now was be there for her which was exactly what he was going to do.

* * *

><p><strong>So I know this isn't my best work but I decided to post it. Please review and let me know what you think. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Two hours later Dick sat in the waiting room outside Artemis's room with Dinah and Ollie, Bruce left to go tell the league what had happened and to find out if there were any sightings of Laurence Crock in the area last night. Dick knew something wasn't right, she should've been awake and talking by now. Ollie and Dinah were sitting next to each other on a different couch and the only words they said, they whispered to each other and Dick didn't try to listen. Eventually a doctor came out of her room ad asked to speak to the others privately, when Dick saw Dinah gasp and Ollie froze he knew something was wrong but remained in his seat until they came back over. "Dick you need to call Bruce, ask him to come back."

Dinah said. Dick knew not to ask any questions at the moment and to just do as he was told, so he called Bruce and within minutes Bruce was back at the hospital. "What happened?" Bruce asked when he got back. Dinah stepped up and explained it for Ollie, "Artemis is awake but when she woke up the doctor asked her some questions and they said that she couldn't remember the last couple of years, they said she has retrograde amnesia, she doesn't remember the team, going to Gotham academy she doesn't even remember her mother's death or Wally's. They said that the memories can come back with pictures and stories but..." Dinah trailed off and Ollie spoke up.

"Artemis has been through so much with the superhero life and when Wally died Artemis didn't even eat and she barely talked, maybe it would be better if we let her live her life differently, only tell her about where she lives and her job. Nothing about the team or the league, nothing about Wally but we can tell her about her mother. But someone will need to keep track of her if it turns out the light did this they will probably try to convince her to join them." Ollie said ad Dick was pissed. "That's not out choice, she has a life we can't just create a new one for her, we need to tell her everything." Dick said.

"Dick she's been through enough pain maybe it will be better this way, the doctor says that is probably best because the stress and the danger has already impacted her so much and her life span has been reduced by around two years, she doesn't need anymore of this." Bruce said, and Dick was shocked, he expected Bruce to agree with him. "I'll do it. I'll make sure she does't get into any trouble and I will take care of her, it's the least I can do, I owe her this much. But is there anyway that she can get her memory back?" Dick asked. Dinah nodded and said

"yes, the doctor said that we can't wait longer then a month if we want to get her memory back, any longer and it will be almost impossible." Dick knew he had no say in it, and it would probably be better for her but she wouldn't remember him and that thought killed him. Ollie smiled and said "thank you Dick." Ollie shook his hand and Dick faked a smile, he didn't like the idea at all. They left to tell the doctors while Dick went to organize to move to a new apartment that was closer to Artemis. He would move in tomorrow and keep it out of the newspapers. It was going to take some time but he would keep on trying until it worked, he wanted to become friend with her again and that way he could look after her better.

He still couldn't believe that Ollie had decided to do this and that Dinah and Bruce both thought it was a good idea. the doctors said she wouldn't be out of the hospital for another two weeks so Dick had time to fix up her apartment and move into his. He hated this idea but Dick knew she was going through so much and even though she pretended to be fine, she felt so weak and she's felt like that since she joined the team, maybe this was for the best.

* * *

><p><strong>I know it's not a very good story but still let me know if I should continue. <strong>


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning, Welcome to the Coffee Corner what can I get you today?" Artemis asked a customer three weeks after she lost her memory. She went back to work yesterday and Dick decided to go into the coffee shop and hopefully they would cross paths and talk. Dick had taken time off from the team and work so he could keep an eye on Artemis. She looked so happy just serving customers. Artemis honestly remembered nothing about the team or high school or Wally or Dick. Dinah and Ollie told her that they were her real aunt and uncle and she seemed to believe that, they had told her she was in a car accident and that's why she was in the hospital.

Dick saw Artemis swap with one of the waitresses so she was now behind the counter and Artemis was taking people's orders. Dick didn't want her to think he was creepy if she caught him staring so he looked away, and just a few minutes later She came up to his table. "Can I get you anything?" She asked. Dick smiled at her and he said.

"No thanks, i'm good." She turned to walk away but then stopped and turned around again. "I'm sorry but I just wanted to know, do I know you from somewhere? You look so familiar." Artemis said which made him smile even more. He held out his hand and said "I don't believe we've met before, Richard Grayson."

Artemis shook his hand and said "Artemis Crock. You're Bruce Wayne's son aren't you?" She asked and when he nodded she replied. "That explains why I recognise you." Artemis said and when someone called her name she smiled and said, "I should get back to work. It was nice meeting you."

"You too." Dick said as she walked away. He had this feeling in him that he had only ever gotten once before, it was like he was meeting her for the first time again. He kept smiling as he read the paper and kept catching her glancing at him as she walked past. When it hit 11:30am Dick stood up and left some money on the table. He walked over to the door and waited until Artemis looked his way. Just a few seconds later and her grey eyes locked with his bright blue ones and he smiled and waved a goodbye.

'Who was that?' Artemis thought to herself. She couldn't help but smile and wave back. She find herself smiling for the rest of the day. 'maybe my luck is turning around' she thought to herself as she continued to serve customers.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it's taken me to update this story and sorry this is such a short chapter, please review and let me know what you think and if I should continue the story. I hope you like it and I would like to hear some feed back. I'll try and update more of this story and my other stories. <strong>


End file.
